The Aria
by Renaissance Queen
Summary: Super smart Castiel is annoyed when he is told he must learn to play an instrument to help get into college, however when he meets who will be teaching him, he decides that maybe it won't be so bad. High School Au, Fluffy Destiel One-shot


Castiel Novak was an incredibly smart student.

Even though he was only in his junior of high school, Castiel could easily outperform the best of the senior year in any academic subject; whether it be Mathematics, Science, English- you name it he could over achieve in it, that was until one day his school careers adviser pull them out of his favourite class-advanced calculus.

"Excuse me, Ms Mills," Mr Singer said in a booming voice that made all of the students, well all four of them, turn around in their chairs, "could I please speak to Mr Novak?"

Ms Mills nodded and Castiel picked up his books with a sigh of annoyance, the rest of his classmates sniggered at the angel of the class getting called out by the teacher.

"If you would please come to my office, Mr Novak, We need to discuss your future," and Singer announced to a quite frankly scared-out-of-his-mind Castiel.

The pair walked silently to the teacher's office and Castiel made a mental list as to what Mr Singer could possibly want to speak about.

 _My grades are good, I never get in trouble and I am on route to college, he knows that, so what could he want to talk to me about?_

Castiel entered Mr Singer's office and, as it was the first time he had ever been in this part of the school, he took a moment to examine his surroundings once he had sat down on a hard plastic chair. The walls enclosing the room were an ugly mustard colour with a navy ceiling and skirting board. Mr Singer's possessions were neatly ordered on what could only be described as poo-brown shelves and desks. There weren't many objects on the desk in front of him; merely a computer and pencil case. The carpet was also a navy colour with flecks of rainbow threaded throughout the floor. Castiel decided that the office must be incredibly practical as there was nothing aesthetic about it, not that it really bothered him.

"I'm assuming that you must be wondering why I have summoned you here?" Mr Singer's voice said seriously.

Castiel nodded timidly. He wasn't all that comfortable in one-on-one situations with authority figures.

"First, I would like to ask you what colleges you are considering for when you finish here at Lawrence High?"

Castiel took a deep breath. He knew this answer like the back of his hand, "well, sir, I would like to get an undergraduate degree, a bachelor with honours, in biomedical engineering at Yale or MIT, then I hope to complete a masters and continuing into a pHD one day."

Mr Singer closed his eyes and nodded his head slowly, "That is very admirable of you, Mr Novak, and you definitely have the grades to obtain these goals," Castiel smiled at this glimpse of praise, "however, the colleges these days look for not only intellectual students, such as yourself, but also creative and well-rounded students. Now, seeing as you have shown very little interest in sports, I highly recommend that you pick up a creative or performing arts subject before your time here finishes, otherwise, you may not be the best candidate that your preferred college is looking for."

"But, sir, I am neither artistic nor comfortable in performing in front of people; choosing to study any of these subjects will surely lower my GPA?"

"Maybe, however it may be a risk you will need to take. At Lawrence High, we offer Visual Arts, Music, Drama and Dance; unless, of course, you want to re-enrol in the Physical Education course?"

Oh god, no, Castiel thought. He had enough trouble with sport in middle school and was glad he no longer had to struggle through that particular course. There is no way I am dancing; from what I've heard, it's more physically demanding than sport, I'm definitely not doing drama either- too many people go to the musical which is compulsory to participate in. That leaves visual arts and music; from what I've seen of Charlie's work, you have to be an amazing artist to even pass the class, which I am not. I guess I could learn an instrument; I mean, it's astounding to think about how each of them works, in a mechanical sense.

"I would like to study music, sir, it is the subject in which I am least likely to fail in."

"Excellent choice, I will tell Mr Winchester to expect your arrival at lunch and I shall organise for you to have a lesson off every day so you can learn how to play an instrument."

As Mr Singer finished his sentence, the all to familiar school bell sung its uncomfortably loud tune to signify the beginning of lunch.

"Perfect timing, Mr Novak, you are free to go, and I shall speak to Mr Winchester now, good luck!"

Castiel exited Mr Singer's office to see his best friend, Charlie Bradbury, standing outside the door.

"So, what did he want?"

"He said I had to pick up another subject, a creative or performing art, otherwise colleges may not want me, something about them wanting diverse students."

"Oh, that's so cool, what did you pick?" The energetic girl practically squealed.

"Music- actually, I have to go to the music rooms now to find an instrument I can actually get a sound out of."

"I'm sure you'll find something, I'm gonna go work on my art assessment, peace out bitch."

And with that, Castiel's only life support had disappeared, stranded, he braced himself to enter the music rooms.

* * *

As soon as the school's bell blared through the premises, Dean Winchester raced out of class and towards the music center of the school. He entered and threw his bag down before walking over to the beautiful grand piano and the musical composition he had been working on for his extension music class. His fingers danced along the ivory white keys and he became so absorbed in his piece that he didn't hear when someone opened the door and walked into his father's office, much less when his father and the mystery person walked over to the piano and stood next to it, waiting for him to finish; which, eventually, he did.

"Dean," Dean heard his father say as he turned to face the pair, noticing the boy he had never seen before. The boy was astoundingly handsome in an effortless and messy kind of way. Dean traced his eye line from the male's dark chocolate brown thick locks to his piercing blue eyes and strong, tall build which was hiding under a tan-coloured trench coat; an interesting choice for school.

"This is Castiel Novak, Mr Singer has told me he needs Castiel to become proficient in an instrument as soon as possible, so I would like you to please help him find an instrument that he could easily learn. You will have the last lesson of every day off to help him learn it," his father said coldly, almost handing Castiel to Dean for him to deal with.

Once Mr Winchester had left the room, Dean spoke up, "Don't be afraid, he's always like that. So... music! What made you want to learn an instrument, apart from music being the best thing about this school?" Dean said, flashing Castiel his most charming smile.

"Well actually, I am only doing this because Mr Singer seems to think that I won't be accepted into college if I don't do something creative."

"You seem smart enough to pick up an instrument quickly, so maybe this'll work," Dean responded as he began to walk over to the instrument storage room, "so... Castiel is an interesting name; can I call you Cas?"

"Yes, I suppose so,. My parents are both really religious and thought it would be a good idea to name our siblings and I after angels. Michael was lucky, myself not so much."

Dean laughed, "Well I think it's pretty cool. So, do you know what you might want to play?"

Castiel shrugged, he hadn't really thought about it.

"Fair enough, maybe you should try the saxophone, it's a good beginner instrument."

So Cas picked up the saxophone and placed his hands where Dean showed him, took a deep breath in and blew into the instrument. Which he couldn't get a sound out of. All that came out was a rush of air.

"Dude, if you can't play the saxophone then I think there's no hope for any instrument in the woodwind or brass section."

"It's probably for the best, I don't have much stamina anyway," Castiel quipped.

"Okay, what about percussion? You know- drums, timpani, glockenspiel, hell even the triangle."

"I'm not sure I am coordinated enough- besides, I don't know how to read all those symbols, I only learnt the normal notes in music from recorder."

"I guess that eliminates the guitar too, and only leaves the violin and the piano. Seeing as you think you're uncoordinated, I think violin is your best bet, but it'll be difficult. It may look easy to play, but it's hard to make sound good."

Castiel picked up the violin that Dean had handed to him.

"For the time being, let's put bits of tape where your finger need to go," Dean smiled. "So, the biggest string, here," he said pointing to the first of the strings, "is called the G string, which means that when you play it without any other fingers, it makes the note G."

Dean handed Cas a bow.

"To hold the now you need to put your thumb here and rest your other fingers on top," he said, rearranging Castiel's fingers properly. "Great! Now, can you play a G for me?"

Castiel placed the now gently onto the first string and pulled it downwards as perpendicular to the string as he could, applying a bit of pressure, until a long hollow sound resonated through the air.

"Perfect, Cas. You'll be playing pieces in no time," Dean grinned.

For the rest of lunch, Dean introduced Cas to the other three strings; D, A, and E.

"You're doing very well for your first lesson; must be that big brain of yours being able to memorise things so quickly," Dean commented, smiling. "Would you be able to come to my house this afternoon? I have some beginner violin music which I think you should have a go at; meet me here after school?"

"Okay, see you then."

And with that, the bell rang. Castiel raced off to his next class, leaving the violin in the music studio to pick up later.

* * *

Castiel just could not concentrate, for the last couple of hours of school all he could think about was Dean and his violin lessons.

 _At least the lessons will be with someone interesting and not just a boring old teacher. Plus, it doesn't hurt that Dean is incredibly good looking. God, I could just stare into those eyes forever._

Soon enough, the final bell rang to signal the end of school and Castiel was strangely excited to see Dean, and sure enough, there he was, still practicing the same beautiful piece he had been at lunch. Castiel admired how seamlessly Dean's fingers were gracing over the keys.

 _Damn, his hands must be so strong._

Castiel noticed that Dean had taken off his leather jacket since they had last met, and was now wearing just a sleek black t-shirt that really showed off his figure well. Castiel was so enchanted by this that he didn't even notice when Dean stopped playing which made Dean laugh.

"Like what you see?" He said cheekily, winking and making Cas blush, "come on, let's go... oh! Cas, you get to meet my Baby!"

This statement made the bubble of hope in Cas burst. Sure, he barely even knew Dean, but Cas felt oddly jealous that there could already be someone in Dean's life...

Dean and Cas turned the corner to the school's parking lot.

"Baby!" Dean called out as he raced to a black muscle car. "Did you miss me? Cas, this is my Baby, and if you hurt her, then I'll hurt you," Dean said half jokingly, half seriously.

Cas breathed out a sigh of relief as he climbed into the well taken care of Chevrolet Impala.

After about 15 minutes, Cas and Dean had reached Dean's house and two minutes later they were in Dean's room- which looked like Mozart had been redecorating.

Dean dug through a pile of boxes to find an old violin case and book of music that appeared to be for two people.

"You remember how to read music, right?" Castiel nodded, "good, because I thought it would be easier to start with us playing a duet, I'll count in 1, 2, 3, 4..."

After playing for three hours, the pair decided that now would be a good time to stop for the day.

"I gotta say, Cas, you're a natural," Dean said as he watched Castiel smile and blush, "I'm serious, you're learning really fast, in fact I think if you and I work hard enough at school and maybe a couple of days a week after school, you could be good enough to play in the school's concert at the end of the year," he continued.

By the end of Dean's compliment, Castiel was blushing harder than ever and Dean took the opportunity to lift Cas's head back up.

"You just gotta be more confident in yourself."

Everyday, Dean and Cas would meet up at lunch and the last lesson of he day to practice. As Cas became more confident in his instrument, Dean switched to piano, and over the semester, Dean and Cas grew closer, much closer.

* * *

Three weeks before the school's end of year concert, Dean had rushed in excitement to meet his best friend at lunch.

"Hey, Cas," he said quickly, "I have music for you."

"Calm down Dean, I need to unpack my violin first," he responded, confused at his friend's odd behaviour. Once he'd unpacked, Cas stood at the music stand and Dean sat nervously at the piano. As usual, Dean counted them in.

"1, 2, 3, 4..."

They began to play softly and sweetly, however, soon the music turned into a flurry of passion. At the conclusion of the piece, Dean exhaled slowly.

"Dean, this is the piece you were working on the first time I saw you, isn't it?"

"Yeah it is," Dean said, brushing his fingers through his hair and standing up to face Cas, "I adapted it into a piano and violin duet and I was hoping we could play it together at the concert in three weeks."

Dean held his breath as Castiel remained silent.

"Of course I'll play it with you," Cas finally spoke.

"Yes!" Dean exclaimed wrapping his arms around Cas, and Cas couldn't help but feel like the happiest person on the planet.

* * *

After three solid weeks of practicing non-stop, the night of the concert had arrived. Castiel was at Dean's house getting ready, and he was as nervous as he'd ever been. He had showered and was now wearing a black suit jacket with a navy button up shirt and black skinny jeans. Dean had promised to style his hair nicely as soon as he emerged from the bathroom... which he did, wearing a similar assortment to Cas, only he had a black shirt instead of a blue one. Cas felt his jaw drop, but it was okay, because so had Dean's.

"Wow, Cas..," Dean started.

"Yeah... you too."

The two of them stared at each other for a few more seconds before Cas' anxiety kicked in.

"Dean, I'm so scared; What if I mess up? People are watching, Dean, people who see me as really smart and perfect at everything, and what if I'm not?"

"Cas, you'll be fine," Dean whispered in Cas' ear after wrapping his warm arms around him, "You are a freaking prodigy and I know you'll nail it tonight. Now... let's fix up your hair..."

Cas peeked out at the people slowly flooding into the auditorium. This elevated his heart rate quite a bit. He and Dean were the opening act and now matter how much they practised, and how comforting Dean's hug had been, Cas was nervous as hell. He could see so many people he knew; Mr Singer, Ms Mills, Mr and Mrs Winchester with Dean's brother Sam, his own siblings- Gabriel, Michael, Lucifer and Anna- with his parents, even Principal Crowley had shown up.

"Hey... Cas, take a deep breath. if you just let yourself feel what you're playing, anything will sound good- I believe in you."

Cas nodded and he took his place on the stage.

As the curtain rose, Cas looked at Dean who winked at him with reassurance. He positioned the violin delicately on his shoulder, took a deep breath in and nodded at Dean, ready for the piece to begin.

Cas let the music completely take over him and he really felt the raw emotion Dean had put into composing the piece. He no longer registered that the audience was watching and could only think about one person; Dean. Cas barely felt any time pass, he was too enthralled in the movement and sound he was producing, until the end when there were no more notes left to play.

The crowd erupted into a loud applause and he was snapped back into reality. Cas stood up with Dean to take a bow before leaving the stage.

Cas was so overwhelmed about how he played that he remained silent until he'd put his violin down and broken out of his trance.

"Dean, that was amazing," Cas pronounced as he leant against the wall.

"No, you were amazing," Dean whispered, and wrapping his hand to the back of Cas' neck and jawline, Dean pushed him against the wall, into a long, slow electrifying kiss.


End file.
